Travel to the mountains and make a fortune in silence

At this moment, an old man spoke up: "These children are also unfortunate. They used to live next door to my house. Their father was an old hunter surnamed Wu. He also collected some medicinal herbs to sell, so the family was relatively well-off. He even sent his sons to a private school to learn to read and write."

"But until two years ago, Hunter Wu accidentally broke his leg and became paralyzed in bed. Since then, the family has had no source of income. Hunter Wu also needed to spend money to buy medicine, and since they had no land, the whole family could only rely on the children's mother and eldest daughter to help others wash clothes to make ends meet."

"Last year, Hunter Wu passed away, and their mother also fell ill. Later, they even sold their house. I never expected them to end up like this."

After a moment's thought, the old man stepped forward and asked the boy, "Young Wu, where are your older sister and two younger sisters?"

The eldest boy replied, "Uncle Jiang, my older sister and younger sister are staying with my mother at the clinic."

"Young Wu, here are some copper coins, take them." Old Man Jiang took out twenty copper coins from his money bag and placed them in the boy's hand. He had originally thought that the Wu family's daughters had been sold, but when he heard the boy say that they were at the clinic, he breathed a sigh of relief.

It is important to know that in this dynasty, the preference for sons over daughters was prevalent. Ordinary families would often sell their daughters like commodities for money. Some families would even sell their daughters ruthlessly in order to raise money for their sons' dowry.

"Uncle Jiang, I can't accept this money." The boy knew that Uncle Jiang's family was also struggling financially, so he wanted to return the copper coins to Uncle Jiang.

"Take it! This is all I can give you." Uncle Jiang sighed helplessly, forced the copper coin into the boy's hand, and then slowly got up and left.

Old Jiang recalled the past when he had eaten a lot of wild game hunted by Hunter Wu. Now that his family was in trouble and he was powerless to help, he felt as if a million ants were gnawing at his heart. He was extremely distressed and sighed as he walked.

Hearing the conversation between the old man and the boy, Mu Nan felt a surge of emotion. Despite her family's best efforts, she was unable to let her grandfather enjoy a few more years of family happiness, and her heart was filled with endless regret.

He crouched down, looked at the children, and asked, "Which clinic does your mother work at?"

"Big brother, would you like to buy me? I'm really good at it. I can hunt and gather herbs." The boy had been going into the mountains with his father since he was a child to learn hunting skills.

Later, his father was injured, so he stopped going to school. Because the deep mountains were dangerous, he could only catch some pheasants and rabbits on the edge of the mountains and collect some herbs to sell to supplement the family income.

“Big brother, I’m very capable too. I can also gather herbs,” the younger boy said hurriedly. Over the past few years, he had followed his older brother and had indeed learned about many herbs.

"Big brother, I can dig wild vegetables, please buy us!" The youngest boy was also busy promoting himself.

"Where is your mother now? I need to see her before I know how to help you. If she is sick, you must find a doctor to treat her immediately," Mu Nan said patiently to the three brothers.

“My mother is in the clinic, and my sister and sisters are there taking care of her.”

Wang Qing'er then asked, "Which clinic does your mother work at? Could you take us to see her?"

Wang Qing'er and Mu Nan shared the same idea: to verify if the brothers were truly ill or facing difficulties. They would then contribute some money to help with their medical treatment. They had no intention of buying the three brothers.

The boy looked at the older brother and the pretty older sister in front of him with clear eyes, not like bad people. Besides, there were so many people in the clinic, nothing would happen.

So he nodded, got up and helped his two younger brothers up, tidied up the wooden sign, and led Mu Nan and Wang Qing'er toward the clinic.

It turned out that the mother of the three Wu brothers was receiving treatment at Heshengtang.

In larger clinics in the county town, there are small rooms for seriously ill patients to rest, similar to modern hospital wards. As long as you pay, you can stay here for treatment.

Mu Nan's master saw that the Wu family mother and son were pitiful, so he asked Manager Wang to take them in. He paid for their medicine every month, provided them with a house for free, and even let them cook on a stove in the yard.

The house consisted of only one room, where the Wu family mother and daughter lived, while the three brothers slept on the floor in the courtyard corridor at night.

During the day, they would go hunting in the mountains outside the city and dig up wild vegetables to sell in the streets. The eldest daughter would embroider handkerchiefs to sell.

Even so, it wasn't enough to pay for their mother's medicine. The money from selling the house was all gone, so the three boys had no choice but to sell themselves to pay for their mother's treatment, but after several days, no one came forward to help.

Several brokers came to inquire, but the prices they offered were too low. The money the three of them could earn together would only cover their mother's medicine for three months. What would they do after that? So they didn't agree.

Thinking that if they could hold on for a few more days, they might meet a kind family and sell their goods for a higher price, thus surviving for a few more months. By then, their mother would recover, and their eldest sister could embroider more things to sell, which would also help them make ends meet.

If you do well for your employer in the future, you will receive a monthly salary and some bonuses during holidays, which can also help supplement your household income.

When Manager Wang saw Mu Nan enter the clinic with the three Wu brothers, he pulled Mu Nan aside and asked, "Mu Nan, do you know these three brothers?"

Mu Nan briefly recounted what had happened on the street to Manager Wang. After a moment's thought, Manager Wang said, "Their mother is indeed ill, mainly due to excessive melancholy. She needs medication and slow recovery, which could take at least one or two years, and possibly three to five years. The medicine will cost ten taels of silver every month. Are you sure you want to help them?"

"It's not an incurable, terminal illness, so I want to help them." Mu Nan decided to help the three brothers after learning that their mother was indeed sick.

“Since you say so, then I won’t stop you. They used all the money from selling the house to treat their mother’s illness. They didn’t have money to pay the rent, so they stayed at our clinic for a few months. Your master was treating their mother’s illness. He gave me the prescription when he left, and I’ll go get it for you.” After saying that, Manager Wang handed the prescription to Mu Nan.

When Hunter Wu was alive, he always sold the herbs he collected to Heshengtang, so they had known each other for a long time. Later, when Hunter Wu fell and got sick, he went to Heshengtang for treatment.

Later, when Liu fell ill, she was treated at Heshengtang. After the house was sold, they rented two rooms. However, their money dwindled month by month, and they couldn't afford to rent a place. So, Master Mu Nan took them in.

"Manager Wang, please get me a month's worth of medicine first." Mu Nan did not take the prescription, but instead asked Manager Wang to get the medicine first.

At this moment, the eldest son of the Wu family, who had been standing to the side, took out a few pieces of paper from his pocket and handed them to Mu Nan. "Master, these are the indentures of the three of us brothers. If you help my mother cure her illness, the three of us brothers will be yours from now on."

"Get your mother medicine first, we'll talk about the rest later." Mu Nan didn't reach out to take their indenture. He didn't intend to buy the three of them; he simply wanted to help them.